Paradise
by MisuzSirius
Summary: Remus was standing behind James, imitating him. Peter and Sirius laughed, while James just looked confused. He turned around and then chucked his Hogwarts: A History book at him. Sirius watched them, amused. This is it, he thought. This is right where I belong.
1. In Which We Arrive

"...43 muggles, miniature-sized in a broom cupboard. Authorities are still investigating the case but are fairly certain that this piece of magic was performed by You-Know-Who's followers, the Death Eaters,-"

"They must have had to use some pretty intense memory modification charms," Sirius grumbled, lifting his head from his roughly assembled makeshift bed on the compartment floor.

Remus frowned. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Keyword being "_were_", meaning _was_, as in before your reading-out-loud-to-the-kiddies time woke me up."

James chucked and Sirius directed his glare at him instead.

"Shouldn't you be off with the other prefects, planning ways to take the fun out of the school year?" Sirius sneered.

"The meeting ended a while ago," Remus replied coolly, "whilst you were busy catching up on your beauty sleep."

Sirius barked out a laugh appreciatively.

"Can't even stay mad at you for long, Moony! Say, where's Wormtail?"

Said boy burst into their compartment, wheezing.

Sirius immediately shot up, at the alert.

"Slytherins," Peter panted. "They- cornered me- got away."

James nodded at Sirius. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Remus stood up, knocking his copy of _The Daily Prophet_ to the floor. "Don't be ridiculous! You can't use magic outside-"

"I hope it's Snivellus," Sirius said excitedly. "That vermin's surely an exception to the rules."

Remus pushed him lightly back into the compartment, cutting off their advances.

"Oh, come off it, Remus!" roared James. "Since when do you care for- for- _Snivelface _so much?!

"I don't! It's you lot I don't want getting into trouble-"

"How can we let this go? They cornered Peter-"

"_Threatened _him!" Sirius added for good measure.

"I know but-"

James tried to push Remus aside but he wouldn't budge.

"Oh, bloody hell-"

James and Remus whipped out their wands simultaneously as Sirius gave James a hard push from behind. James bumped into Remus who pushed Peter and, like dominoes, they hit the compartment door just as it flew open.

Lily Evans stared, shocked, at the pile of Marauders at her feet.

"Well, this is certainly... new..." she trailed off.

"_Pleugh_!" Sirius made a face, pushing himself into a standing position off of a rising James and effectively sending him sprawling back down again. "I think I ate some hair."

Remus slid out from underneath James, who fell, once again, back down onto Peter.

"It's not what it looks like!" he gasped. "I can explain!"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I think I'd rather you didn't."

"Lils!" James spluttered, having managed to finally stand up. "What are you doing here?"

Peter groaned from his position on the floor.

Lily ignored James, turning to face Remus instead.

"The train arrives in ten minutes, so we need you down in the Prefects compartment again."

Remus cast a sympathetic glance at James' disappointed face and set off after Lily down the corridor.

"Guys," Peter piped up weakly, "a hand would be great."

* * *

Half an hour later the Marauders were seated at Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, waiting patiently - or, in Sirius' case, not so patiently - to eat.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore boomed. "I trust that you are all eager to eat so I will leave the boring, informative bits until after you have done so. Tuck in!"

James, Peter and Remus all shook their heads as Sirius began heaping piles of food onto his plate.

"I seg," he attempted to speak through a mouthful of food, "tha playsh is yeagh-"

"Look at me Padfoot," James directed, cutting him off. "In today's lesson I'm going to teach you how to eat- er, _properly_. First, you must spear the chicken with your fork. Next, you-"

He ducked under the table as Sirius tossed a leftover bone at his head.

"Honestly," Remus scoffed, "don't play with your food."

Sirius swallowed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, _Mum_."

"Is it safe to come up yet?" James called from underneath the table.

"Yes, I'll let you live... for now," Sirius replied. "Anyway, as I was saying earlier, don't the plates seem smaller this year?"

They all stared open-mouthed at Sirius' plate.

"Er, no, mate," Peter spoke up, "it's just your appetite that's gotten bigger."

Sirius stared at him for a moment and then shrugged, continuing his attempt to eat as much as humanly possible.

The Marauders finished the rest of dinner in silence, speaking again only when Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Here we go," James breathed to the other three.

"Now that we're all full of the delicious food provided courtesy of Hogwart's wonderful house elves-"

"Advertisement, anyone?" muttered Sirius.

"-I would like to introduce everyone to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Silver!"

A tall, brooding man stood up from the teachers table. His shoulder-length black hair was tied at the base of his neck and, unlike the rest of the staff, he wore ripped-up jeans and a dark-green t-shirt. He was also, along with Sirius, the only male in the entire school to be wearing an ear piercing.

Several of the girls at their table giggled as Professor Silver raised a hand in hello.

"Thank you, Professor. I'm sure you will be welcomed to your new post warmly," Dumbledore said knowingly. "Next, Quidditch try-outs will be held as they are every year, so please check the board in your common room sometime this week for more information and announcements. And, lastly, a reminder to all that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits for _everyone_." Here he stared pointedly over the rim of his glasses at the grinning Marauders.

"So, once again, welcome back to Hogwarts and get a full night's sleep for lessons beginning tomorrow. Goodnight!" he closed off.

The Great Hall immediately assembled itself into one of many versions of chaos.

"That's my cue," sighed Remus, making his way over to the Gryffindor first years.

Sirius, James and Peter followed their fellow Gryffindors up what seemed countless flights of moving stairs and chilly corridors and into the common room.

* * *

"Home at last," Sirius mumbled a while later, after they had all changed into their sleeping clothes and fallen into bed.

"Mm," Remus agreed from the next bed.

A short while later, "You know, I don't recall the curtains being so- so- _maroon_. I think they've changed the look of this place around a bit, eh?"

Silence.

Sirius shifted around in his bed uncomfortably.

"My bed feels.. lumpy. Like it's coming down with a sore throat. Do beds have throats? I assume the, well- gosh, I don't know. If the bed were to be considered like the human body, which part would be the throat? Or rather, the kookers? Though maybe that'd just be-"

Having sensed Sirius' nervousness, James' bedside lamp flicked on.

He stared at Sirius.

Sirius stared back.

James raised an eyebrow.

Sirius raised an eyebrow _and _smirked, hoping to out-do him in terms of facial expressions.

Thirty seconds of intense eye-contact later, James relaxed his facial features.

"It's going to be alright," he said softly. "Goodnight, Padfoot."

The light went out.

Sirius smiled in the darkness.

"Goodnight Prongs."


	2. Bruised Egos

"Oh, that feels so good," moaned Remus.

"I second that," Peter murmured.

"More, more! Keep it coming!"

"And what are we up to here?" came a voice from the doorway.

Remus yelped. "Close the door, close it! Close it!" At Sirius' confused look he added, "I need to hide my chocolate stash, so be quick about it before Frank comes in here! We all know how he is about my chocolate."

"...Right, er, of course we do. We're giving you guys five minutes to stop stuffing your faces full of chocolate and come downstairs. Not four, not six, not four-and-a-half, not four-and-three-quarters, not four-and-"

"WE GET IT!" Peter and Remus shouted in unison.

"Alright, alright," Sirius muttered, turning to close the door, "no need to get your knickers into a twist."

Exactly five minutes later (Sirius was very punctual about timing when it came breakfast, and the Marauders feared his wrath and knew it was in their best interests to be down on time) Remus and Peter joined Sirius and James in the common room. They all set off for the Great Hall together, with Sirius attempting to convince them that he'd hypnotized all four of them into forgetting the way but, rest assured, his nose would guide them there in no time.

"Hel-lo there, pretty woman." James raised his eyebrows suggestively at Lily whilst approaching Gryffindor table. "Say, you mind if we lovely lads join y-"

"Yes," she replied curtly, shooting him the glare she reserved for this purpose only. "And good morning-"

-James face lit up-

"-Remus. And Peter, I suppose."

-and fell promptly back down again.

Sirius fell into his seat, clutching his chest. "Ooh! You wound my heart sometimes, Evans, you really do!"

"The heart's on the other side, Black."

"Oh," Sirius furrowed his brows goofily, "no wonder I could never feel it with my hand. Always thought I was some mutated-vampire-child."

"Oh, don't be too disappointed, Black," said Lily, rolling out her copy of The Daily Prophet with a flourish, "I assure you, you very much are."

**-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx-**

"Well, this is it," Sirius put on his best imitation of a serious voice. "We have come to it at last. The Great Parting."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Really! We're jus-"

"Shhh!" James shushed him.

Sirius cleared his throat and began again, pacing back and forth in front of their seats at the table as he did.

"There have been, over the ages, a countless number of heartwarming stories regarding friendship, but ours, my dear friends, will go down in history. We, the Marauders, are more than just comrades - we are friends. Nay, we are more than friends - we are BROTHERS!" They all jumped slightly at his sudden shout. "We, the Marauders, the four brothers, will go down in history! No parting to our respective classes, nor any damsels in distress, nor any damsels, in general, or wack family members-"

Here he glared at the sparsely populated Slytherin table-

"or anything else of utter insignificance will come between us! We shall live together and die together, as brothers! All for one-"

"-ONE FOR ALL!" shouted the rest of Gryffindor table, clapping loudly.

Peter wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Even Remus looked a bit stunned, though that was probably just because Sirius had managed to make their parting for first-period classes sound like an epic battle speech, that too with on-the-spot script.

Sirius jumped onto the table and took a bow. "Thank you, thank you!"

Professor McGonagall approached them and he hastily leapt down. She raised her eyebrow but, luckily, didn't comment on his spontaneous acrobatics.

"Well, I must say, you've outdone yourself this year, Black. A dramatic scene within 24 hours of the starting of school." He beamed. "After watching your antics alongside the other professors with, I assure you, great patience, I have only one thing to say: Get to class!" His smile fell as Professor McGonagall walked off.

"She's got a point," Remus said, snapping out of his battle-slash-psychotic-speech trance.

Sirius scowled. "I'm assuming now would be an appropriate time to call Moony a suck-up?"

James and Peter laughed.

"Come on," said the former, "I'll race you lot to Charms!"

**-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx-**

"Late on the first day of school," Flitwick reprimanded Sirius and James as they rushed in through the door and to any empty seats they could find - in this case, ones located on either end of the classroom. "Let's not make it a-" Remus, followed by Peter, cut him off as they, too, ran in.

"-habit for the rest of the year, boys," Flitwick finished rather lamely.

"Sorry, Professor," they chimed in unison.

Peter and Remus froze, realizing they had no seats.

"Ah, yes," mumbled Flitwick. "_Mensam revelare!_"

Two seats appeared at the back of the classroom, on James' side.

Remus, ever polite, said, "Thank you Professor, I appreciate it," on the way to his seat, with Peter nodding his head in agreement.

Flitwick smiled, in spite of his annoyance. "Alright, alright, it's just the first day. Settle down now!" He cleared his throat. "I thought, as a special treat, that in the very first class of the school year we'd play a bit of a game."

Sirius cupped his hands around his mouth and cheered loudly, along with a few of the more raucous students in class.

"I will call out a letter from the alphabet randomly," Flitwick raised his voice and bounced on the balls of his feet, dangerously close to the edge of his desk, "and whichever two students I have picked from opposing houses will come up here, to the front, and say the name of two charms beginning with that letter. Understood?"

The classroom immediately resorted to chaos.

"ALRIGHT, GRYFFINDORS ON THIS SIDE, CALLED IT!" James shouted, assuming his position as leader and running to Sirius' side of the classroom.

Sirius opened his mouth but Remus beat him to the chase, answering his question before he could voice it: "Yes, it would've been easier for the few on this side to go to the other, but I'm sure James loves the view of the Great Lake provided here."

Sirius closed his mouth, then opened it again, "That's-"

"-bloody stupid, I know."

After the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had sucessfully managed to divide themselves onto either end of the classroom, Professor Flitwick, who'd been observing the ruckus with a slightly frightened expression, cleared his throat once again. "Right. Er- I suppose I'll pick the first students to go.."

His voice trailed off as the classroom exploded with chatter once again.

"REMUS! REMUS!" the Marauders started the chant, with the rest of the Gryffindors following suit soon after.

The other side started a chant of their own, "OLIVIA! OLIVIA!" and before Professor Flitwick could have a say in the matter, the two were up at the front of the classroom.

James grinned widely, recognizing Olivia as one of Lily's more reclusive friends, and gave a thumbs-up to Remus who rolled his eyes in return.

Olivia, on the other hand, stared at Remus with wide, seafoam green eyes.

Flitwick waved his hands impatiently. "Alright, that's enough! Quiet!"

Sirius pointed at his own throat with stabbing gestures, mouthing-

"_Sonorus_. Quiet!"

The class immediately quietened down.

"Thank you," said Flitwick, his voice having returned to normal. "Now- the first letter is.. well, it's quite unoriginal to begin with, but.. A!"

"_Accio, Aguamenti!_" blurted Remus.

Olivia walked briskly back to her seat, looking almost thankful.

"Huh- thought she was the smart, bookworm-type," James whispered to Sirius.

"Not everyone's like Lily," he replied.

Peter snorted and received a not-too-gentle nudge along with a friendly glare.

It continued like this for another three rounds, with Remus beating his opponents easily, not letting them get past even one charm.

Sirius grinned as a dejected Iris Presley returned to the Hufflepuffs. "I guess when he was too busy reading his encyclopaedia-sized books over the summer to reply to our letters- well- it paid off, didn't it?"

Peter hmm-ed in agreement but James was too busy staring at the image of Lily joining Remus at the front.

"Why's Evans up-" began Sirius.

James, who'd been watching the scene unfold like a hawk, simply said, "Trade-off for Violet- er- Violet Something."

"Next letter- S!"

"_Silencio_-"

"_Silencio, Scourgify!_"

Sirius stared, shocked, as the Hufflepuffs erupted into cheers. "Bloody hell.."

The defeated Marauader trudged back to the other three, receiving sympathetic pats on the way. "Had to happen sometime," he shrugged.

Lily took down four more Gryffindors in a manner similiar to Remus' in the start of the game.

Sirius pushed James forward, whispering, "Go!"

"No!"

"Go!"

"I refuse!"

"Don't make me activate my puppy-dog eyes, Jamesie!"

"They won't work this time! I'm not going up there to get creamed!"

"Well, think of it this way- at least it's your lady love that'll be the one doing the creaming, eh?"

James considered it a moment. "Ah, to hell with it! For love!" he yelled, running to the front.

Remus shook his head at Sirius' knowing smile. "You're evil."

"I know."

"Bring it on, Evans!" James shouted, shifting from foot-to-foot like a boxer.

She glared at him levelly in turn. "I will."

Flitwick, aware - like the rest of the staff - of all the drama surrounding the two, chose this moment to announce dramatically: "The next letter.. is.. I!"

"Impe-"

"ImperviusImperiowillyougoout withme?!"

Lily faltered, shocked. "...-rio."

Flitwick, too, had the same reaction. "Well, Mr Potter- er- the last part was most certainly not a charm-"

"-it's _his_ charm!" Sirius shouted, causing the Gryffindors to erupt into cat-calls. Aside, "Good one, eh?" he nudged Peter and Remus.

"-however," Flitwick glared at Sirius for the interruption, "I must conclude that.. this deciding round goes to.. GRYFFINDOR!"

The appropriate side of the classroom burst into cheer and dance, rushing to James' side.

"FIFTY POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! And now you must all leave as the next- oh, forget it." He gave up at the deafening noise in the classroom and hopped off the desk, making his way out of the room with his briefcase.

"OI!" James shouted, "EVANS!"

She turned around on her way out.

"HOW ABOUT IT?"

Lily glared at him. "N-O- NO!" and with that, she hurried away.

"If looks could kill," shouted Sirius in his ear, "you'd be dead!"

-**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx**-

Sirius groaned and pulled his pillow over his ears. "Shut- _up!_" he muttered for what seemed like the hundredth time. "She's not used to losing, you bruised her ego and dared to ask her out so she decided to bruise yours in return by refusing. Now would you please bloody shut up, I need my beauty sleep!"

"I agree with him," Peter spoke up from the other end of the room, "though in slightly- um- nicer words."

"Some friends you are!" James muttered; but the words had their intended effect and he turned onto his side, willing himself to sleep. "Goodnight, everyone."

"Goodnight, you clown-faced, balloon-shaped loony," replied Sirius, smiling into his pillow.

Some things never changed.

* * *

**A/N: **_I join this chapter now at around 2000 words - that should be enough to warrant a review, shouldn't it? :D I want to say, above all, I'd love it if I got some constructive criticism, as I haven't written in the **longest **of times.. However, anything else is welcome too (aside from flame!). _

_I also want to clarify a few things: Firstly, I thought you guys might understand from the Prefect bit in the first chapter but for those who didn't, they're in fifth year. I wanted to start the story originally in sixth, but I only finalized that decision **after **posting the first chapter.. and by that time it was too late, and I was way too lazy to rewrite it, so instead I decided to stick to fifth year, making it goofier than the upcoming ones. Secondly, I know at the moment the story isn't very much Sirius-oriented, but that'll start (hopefully) from the next chapter. Just trying to build up the vibe at the moment, to get the friendship-py feels going on.. If that makes any sense.._

_Also, I'm looking for a beta, so if anyone's interested, please private message me!_

_ANYWAYS! That's the end of this ridiculously long note! Please leave a review, it would mean a bunch! :)_

_- **Sidra xo**_


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